


Savior

by sartiebodyshots



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3
Genre: Abuse, Gen, Murder, Slavery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-02
Updated: 2018-10-02
Packaged: 2019-07-23 19:47:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16165742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sartiebodyshots/pseuds/sartiebodyshots
Summary: Project Purity crumbles around Rose May, Charon, and Sarah Lyons.





	Savior

**Author's Note:**

> Written for badthingshappenbingo! Prompt: Buried in rubble.
> 
> I've wanted to write this for a while, actually, and I'm glad I finally have the excuse!

“You have to enter the code!” Sarah Lyons protests, tearing off her helmet.  “Come on!”

Rose May stares, wide eyed, as Project Purity explodes around her.  The work her parents did, the place they both died, is now in flames.  The smoke fills her lungs and makes her eyes water as she takes the destruction in.

“No,” Rose May finally says.

“If you’re too much of a coward, fine!  Tell me the code!” Sarah snaps. “I’ll do it.”

Rose May stops her wide eyed look around Project Purity.  She meets Sarah’s eyes, smiling at the desperation she sees there.  There’s nothing that Sarah wants more in this moment than to sacrifice herself for the wastes.  It’s pathetic.

“No,” Rose May says.  

The wasteland gets nothing.  The wasteland deserves its tainted water.  The Enclave deserves not to have their plans seen through.  This building deserves destruction.

This is the best endgame scenario, she realizes.  Sometimes things do work out right. 

“Give it to me,” Sarah says.  

Rose May doesn’t reply, enjoying the chaos around her.  She was born here. Both her parents lived and worked here before eventually dying right here.  There’s a symmetry in that that even she can appreciate. Maybe this is what peace feels like.

Sarah grabs Rose May’s arm, squeezing hard, and Rose May pulls away.  How dare she attempt to ruin this perfect moment? 

Moving on pure instinct, Rose May swings her sledgehammer towards Sarah’s now unprotected head.  The other woman drops like a stone, and with a second hit, Rose May is sure that she won’t ruin any more moments.  

Stepping over what used to be Sarah Lyons’ head, Rose May tilts her face upwards.  By now the whole complex is shaking and it’s beginning to crumble. Stone falls around her as she drops her sledgehammer.  No more fighting, no more killing, no more fear, and no more struggle.

Is that why her father killed himself?  Was he tired of fighting, of being scared?  

(Did he fear this world he embraced more than he loved her?)

Her breath comes in short gasps, smoke invading each crevice of her lungs, and she realizes with a start that she’s laughing.  Here she is, about to die in her father’s footsteps, on her mother’s grave. A family in death, as they never were in life.

It’s been months since she’s laughed.  Since before her father fractured her world.  She can’t even remember where or why, just that it was Amata that made her laugh.  But here she is, laughing at this wreck of a wasteland, at this wreck of a facility.  

An explosion knocks her to her side, cutting off her laughter.  Rubble falls from the ceiling, and she doesn’t fight as it buries her.  Her air is going fast, but before she can suffocate, some elaborate piece of machinery falls, smacking her on her head and rendering her unconscious.

Peace, at long last.

* * *

Charon wants to walk away.  He wants to leave her to die here.  That’s what she deserves. Actually, a quick, relatively painless death is more than she deserves, but he’ll take it.

He turns to walk away- where to, he doesn’t know, but anywhere would be good- when a buzzing starts in the base of his brain.  It’s still his duty to guard her life until it actually expires.

Standing there amongst the crumbling building, he can’t move.  His conditioning won’t let him leave without her; her chest is still moving.  

A beat, another, and he hopes that she’ll just die and relieve him of this burden.  He’s not sure what will happen if he actively lets an employer die, but it has to be better than letting her live.  

But Charon’s conditioning overrules his desire, and he drags the rubble off of her.  It’s heavy, but he’s strong, and a minute later, she’s free.

Charon scoops her up easily- despite her muscle, she’s not too tall- and carries her out of the monument.  In all the chaos, it’s easy to slip through the crowd with her in his arms. 

Once they’re away from the crowded fighting, Charon lays her on the grass.  There are cuts visible on her head, but the rest of her is covered by armor.  

Rose May has plenty of stimpaks from a deal she set up with the Outcasts, so Charon stabs her with several.  It’s several minutes before she moves at all, and Charon holds out hope that it’s too little, too late.

Green eyes flicker open.  She tilts her head, looking around.  There’s an… almost softness to her features that Charon isn’t used to seeing.  

Her mouth moves, but Charon can’t hear what she’s whispering.  When her gaze hits him, she stops, eyes narrowing, and the traces of softness disappear.  

“What happened?” Rose May finally snaps as she gets unsteadily to her feet.

“I am duty bound to preserve your life,” Charon says.  “I removed you from the rubble and revived you.”

Rose May stares at him for a long moment, fingers curling into fists.  If she could kill him with a look, he would’ve been long dead already, but she looks as if she might finally snap and try to physically harm him.  That would be good; it would void the contract, and she looks as if she can barely stand on her feet, so he’ll be able to kill her easily. 

Unfortunately, she shakes her head before turning her back on Project Purity and limping away.  She whistles sharply- an unnecessary command to follow, done to remind him that he’s not a person in her eyes.

“Charon, your height will give us away.  We’re trying to move stealthily. You should get on your knees.  For my protection,” Rose May says. 

Her voice is full of some emotion that Charon doesn’t care to identify as he drops to his creaky knees.  His knees ache as he keeps pace with her more easily than usual. 

Rose May turns to glance at him and her eyes are positively glittering with malic.  She didn’t want to be saved, he realizes. There’s nothing she wanted less than to live.  

And he’s the one who saved her life.

**Author's Note:**

> @ Sarah Lyons I'm so sorry I love you so much sighs


End file.
